Master Naturalists from the Blue Ridge
Foothills and Lakes chapter joined with three members from the Southwest
Piedmont Chapter for a service project on 2/18, a beautiful February Saturday.
Ryan Klopf and Wes Paulos, Mountain Region Stewards for the Virginia Department
of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), led the group of 21 on a stream cleanup
work day.
Muck, briars and steep terrain did not
prevent the group from collecting and removing dozens of tires, junked
appliances and car parts, wire, many yards of black plastic and over 20 bags of
debris.
The stream begins as a spring on the Bald
Knob Natural Area Preserve (BKNAP) in Rocky Mount and eventually flows under US
220 and into the Pigg River. BNAP is the largest and best known occurrence of a
"Piedmont mafic barren" where exposed rocks resist weathering and
have unusual chemical properties, making them and their derived soils different
from typical Piedmont sites. These
unique soils produce some of the rarest plants in the world. BKNAP does not yet
have developed public access, DCR has begun developing a long-term management
plan inclusive of plans for both resource protection and public access.
Although Saturday’s mission was to remove
trash and debris from the Bald Knob stream, this small step helps decrease
items leaching into the waters that feed the Pigg River. Any improvements to
water quality in the Pigg, such as the recent removal of the old Power Dam east
of Rocky Mount, help support the recovery of species like the Roanoke log
perch, listed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as endangered. http://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/profile/speciesProfile?spcode=E01G
Good work by all!
Blog post by Charlotte Hubbard
Wow! Nice work you all! It is great to see you all doing work to help this natural area preserve!
ReplyDelete